Headlines from Harvard’s history

Headlines from Harvard’s history

Illustration of football players hanging their laundry out to dry

Illustration by Mark Steele

1932

Herbert Hoover carries the College (1,211 votes) in the Crimson’s presidential poll. The Alumni Bulletin attributes Norman Thomas’s strong showing (484 to FDR’s 620) to “an extraordinary increase of independent thinking among the students.”

Harvard football candidates are now required to change their socks and underwear at least three times a week. Long hair and moustaches, coincidentally, are becoming passé for members of the team.

1947

President James Bryant Conant criticizes the Soviet Union for its unwillingness to agree to international control of the atomic bomb, which he characterizes as “a sword of Damocles hanging over our industrialized civilization.”

1952

Harvard begins its largest financial aid program, allocating almost $1 million in scholarships, loans, and jobs for more than one third of the undergraduate student body.

1967

Institute of Politics scholars studying the draft system recommend higher pay for draftees and enlistees, abolition of special deferments for students and teachers, and a lottery to determine “who should serve when not all serve.”

1972

The new Harvard Center for Research in Children’s Television, with administrative support from the Children’s Television workshop, will explore the effects of visual media on children.

1987

“Ambitious plans are afoot to wire the University for the information age,” the editors report. The Corporation has been asked to authorize a new network that will introduce, among other things, “state-of-the-art telephone service.”

1997

In accordance with Harvard’s non-discrimination policy, the University’s Board of Ministry recommends that same-sex blessing or commitment ceremonies be permitted in Memorial Church.

Related topics

You might also like

A Forgotten Harvard Anthem

Published the year the Titanic sank, “Harvard’s Best” is a quizzical ode to the University.

Wadsworth House Nears 300

The building is a microcosm of Harvard’s history—and the history of the United States.

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The rise of Cambridge cyclists, a lettuce boycott, and Julia Child’s cookbooks

Most popular

Why Men Are Falling Behind in Education, Employment, and Health

Can new approaches to education address a growing gender gap?

The 1884 Cannibalism-at-Sea Case That Still Has Harvard Talking

The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens changed the course of legal history. Here’s why it’s been fodder for countless classroom debates.

Death penalty critiqued by Carol and Jordan Steiker

Sibling scholars Carol Steiker and Jordan Steiker seek to change how America thinks about capital punishment.

Explore More From Current Issue

Man in a suit holding a pen, smiling, seated at a desk with a soft background.

A Congenial Voice in Japanese-American Relations

Takashi Komatsu spent his life building bridges. 

A football player kicking a ball while another teammate holds it on the field.

A Near-Perfect Football Season Ends in Disappointment

A loss to Villanova derails Harvard in the playoffs. 

A man skiing intensely in the snow, with two spectators in the background.

Introductions: Dan Cnossen

A conversation with the former Navy SEAL and gold-medal-winning Paralympic skier